Episode 21: Anneliese Michel: Possessed? Or Misdiagnosed?

Hey you fellow Palaverers… this was an interesting episode for us. For years, I’ve always operated under the assumption that the Anneliese Michel possession had at least an ounce of truth to it. Perhaps it’s because I’ve never dug deep enough into the details of this case to really understand what actually happened.

I hope you’ll tune into this week’s episode to learn more about what really happened, and then draw your own conclusions. We’ll walk you through the unfortunate details of the case, and give our own opinions about what we think was behind this young woman’s early demise.

Anneliese Michel – how did she go from this?

… to this?

What is surprising about this story is that once all of the facts were laid out before me, the conclusion that I came to was not what I expected. In any case, the short life and tragic death of Anneliese is difficult to comprehend, especially knowing what we now know about the symptoms that she was suffering through. The only knowledge she had to draw from was from her own devout religious beliefs, and the beliefs of her parents, who failed her at virtually every turn.

Tell us what you think. Was she truly possessed? Or were her symptoms of a more mundane nature?